


Watcher in the Web

by paradisialfemmedracaena



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Archivist Sasha James, Canon-Typical Worms (The Magnus Archives), Elias Bouchard Being a Bastard, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Head Archivist Sasha James kicks Elias Bouchard's ass while in his own institute, M/M, Mentioned Gertrude Robinson, No beta we kayak like Tim, Sasha James Lives, Slow Burn, Tim Stoker Lives (The Magnus Archives), archivist sasha, no official beta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25938103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradisialfemmedracaena/pseuds/paradisialfemmedracaena
Summary: "Statement 0162403, regarding encounters with multiple entities over the course of several years, and their eventual downfall. Audio recording given by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.Statement begins…”
Relationships: Annabelle Cane/Sasha James, Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sasha James/Agnes Montague
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	1. Statement Begins...

“Statement 0122204. Subject is Nathan Watts, regarding his encounter with a strange being on Old Fishmarket Close, Edinburgh. Statement originally given on April 22nd, 2012. Audio recording given by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins…”

\---

“So, how does it feel to be calling the shots?” Tim asks Sasha as they’re leaving the Institute. 

“I haven’t done much yet besides record a statement and start figuring out how I want to organize the Archives. Wait until I start sending you out to dig up information on the supernatural—you’ll never get a full night of sleep again.” 

Tim laughs. “You’d really do that to me?”

“Maybe you’ll stop poking fun at my nightmares from working in Artifacts Storage if I do,” Sasha replies. 

“You know I don’t mean it like that, Sasha. Even so, I doubt you’ll be sending me off on quests soon if you want to organize the Archives first. What was Gertrude thinking, keeping everything so messy? I’m surprised Elias didn’t fire her,” Tim scoffs. “You’re going to be a much better Head Archivist, and maybe once you’re done, a person will be able to walk from one end of the Archives to the other without having a stack of papers fall on them. Or even worse, _tapes_.” 

“The tapes are the only piece of technology that can record the statements. I tried to use my computer, but whenever I’d try to play a statement back, the file ended up...corrupted? I’m surprised that Gertrude didn’t keep the Archives in better condition. She was old, but still sharp.”

“Sharp as a butter knife, maybe. Anyways, I’ll see you later, Sasha.” Tim and Sasha part ways, and as she walks home, Sasha thinks about how she could clean the Archives. 

_Maybe the tapes could be color coded by year, and then the corresponding papers could go in boxes labeled with the same color and the date?_ She thought. It seemed too simple, though—something that Gertrude could’ve easily figured out herself. 

_Gertrude always seemed to...know things. I must be missing something that seemed obvious to her that she could’ve used to organize the Archives. Not by date, not by victim...by plausibility? But some of the statements have hardly any follow up..._

_There must be some reason behind the order in which Gertrude kept the Archives,_ Sasha thought. _I’ve only been here for a day, though. I have time to figure that out._

\---

“Martin! Could you and Jon staple these for me?” Sasha dumps a box of loose papers in front of Martin. “They’re all written statements from between 1985 and 1995, but they’ve gotten a bit messy,” Sasha asks Martin. 

“Sure, but do I _have_ to get Jon to help me? I’m sure I can manage on my own...I’m just not entirely sure if Jon would want to work with me,” Martin replies, fidgeting slightly. 

“I know Jon can be a prick, but I know he’ll warm up to you with time.”

“Maybe I can try to chat with him as we work? I’m not a terribly interesting person, but he might not mind. A cup of tea couldn’t hurt, either.” Martin shrugs, and he goes to find Jon. Sasha returns to her desk and pulls out a new notebook from her bag. Opening it to the first page, she sets herself up to take notes as she records four more statements. 

“Case 9982211…”

“Subject is Graham Folger…”

“June 28th, 2013…”

“...93 Lancaster Road, Walthamstow…” 

“...Harriet Lee…”

\---

Jon and Martin sit across from each other, sorting and stapling the endless pile of statements Sasha had left them. 

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a cup of—” Martin starts, but Jon cuts him off. 

“I’m quite alright, thank you.” 

A few more minutes pass. 

“It’d be nice if we could at least discuss the weather,” Martin says. “We’re going to be working together a lot, and I’d appreciate it if we could chat without it being awkward.” 

Jon doesn’t reply right away. “I’m not a fan of small talk,” he says. 

“Let’s start bigger, then. Why did you take a job at the Magnus Institute?” 

“I had an uncomfortable encounter with a spider when I was eight,” Jon says, his tone flat. 

“What kind of encounter?”

“The kind that gives you an unhealthy obsession with the supernatural until you take a job at a so-called research institute that has you stapling together fake accounts of ghosts and zombies for over two hours.” 

“How do you know they’re all fake?”

Jon remains silent, and Martin looks down. The two continue their work in silence for a bit, until Jon speaks up.  
“Why do you want to know?  
“I suppose that I want to get to know you, Jon.” 

\---

“Tim, do you have any information on Jane Prentiss?” Sasha asks as he’s getting ready to leave.  
“I can look tomorrow, but nothing that comes to mind right away. Why?” 

“I just finished a statement that may concern her. Police reports corroborate the more important details, and she seems to have corrupted a student from Roehampton. I hope I’m wrong, but it seems that she’s getting a bit bolder.” 

“Well, even if Prentiss is looking to take more victims, there’s not much we can do about it. The Archives document old cases—why should we worry about new ones?”

“Because Prentiss could be hurting people, Tim. We have the most information on her, so maybe we can predict where she’ll attack next. I’ve already reported the incident and possible follow-up that may be required to the ECDC, but I’m going to talk to Elias about investing some resources into finding her.” 

“You do you, Head Archivist.” Tim gives Sasha a smile, and leaves the Archives. Sasha returns to her desk and starts a new page in her notebook. It’s a list of items: books, a coffin, a notebook that only says “keep watching,” to name a few. After her time in Artifacts Storage, Sasha knows better than to leave loose ends like these untied. 

_Most of the statements involve a single, physical element that terrorizes the victim. Should I be keeping track of them? Noting anything that appears in several statements? Maybe I should keep those statements together?_

Sasha stopped herself. Not a single item had made multiple appearances yet, so why get ahead of herself? She was also assuming that each statement was credible...was it enough to say that they felt real? Was it enough to say that as she read them aloud, she could _feel_ something in the room change?

 _Its Artifacts Storage all over again,_ she thought. _Maybe I learned to recognize certain patterns that indicate true supernatural behavior, so its easier for me to pick out which statements might be real. Or am I being paranoid and assuming that everyone is telling the truth, only because I know how scary the truth can be?_


	2. Itsy Bitsy Spider Crawling Up Jon's Leg

“Jon, I need you to contact the ECDC and any local pest control companies and get a list of recent reports that seem strange—anything that looks like it might be tied to Prentiss. Tim, there’s a pile of statements already on your desk that need follow up—I left sticky notes on the main places you should focus on. I’ll see if Martin can help you once he gets here.”

“I’m here, Sasha. I brought you a cup of tea.” Martin walks into Sasha’s office carrying a cup of Earl Grey, and he puts it on her desk. “You said I should help Tim with follow up on some statements?” 

“Yes, please. And thank you for the tea, Martin. Alright, I’ve got some more recording to do, but I’ll see you all later.”

The assistants leave to their respective tasks, and Sasha sits down. She takes a few sips of her tea before picking up the next statement. 

“Statement 9220611. Subject is Staff Sergeant Clarence Berry, regarding his time serving alongside Wilfred Owen in the Great War. Statement originally given on November 6th, 1922. Audio recording given by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins…”

\---

“A bag full of human teeth? This doesn’t seem so supernatural—just weird,” Tim says to Martin as he reads through a police report for one of the more recent statements. 

“Wait until you read the medical report. Each of the teeth were taken from different subjects, but all 2,780 were the exact same tooth. As in, all the same tooth from the same location in the mouth, but all from different people,” Martin replies. 

“That wouldn’t be too strange if they were all wisdom teeth, maybe. Just a slightly deranged dentist. Does the medical report specify what tooth it was?”

“It probably does, let me find it—” Martin starts, but is cut off by a pale-faced Jon bolting into the Archives. 

“Jon! Are you alright?” Martin gets up to help, but Jon waves him off. 

“I’m okay, I just had something of a shock. I’m fine, I swear,” Jon replies, breathing heavily. 

“You’re shaking, Jon. Let me make you a cup of tea.” Martin disappears into the break room, and Jon doesn’t object. 

“What happened to you?” Tim asks, but Jon shakes his head. 

“Wait until Martin gets back. I don’t want to tell this story twice.” 

A few minutes pass, and Martin returns with three cups of tea. Martins turns to Jon. 

“I don’t know what kinds of tea you like, so I made everything the Archives has and you can pick.” 

“Anything is alright, Martin. Thank you.” Jon takes a cup from him and puts it down. Martin passes one to Tim as well, and the three gather around Tim’s desk.

“After contacting the ECDC, I went around the area looking for pest control companies like Sasha asked me to. It must’ve been the third or fourth one when I was reviewing their past reports, and I found one that mentioned having saved samples that were deemed ‘strange,’ and that were going to be sent to a lab for testing. I asked to see them, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was shown a glass container full of…spiders.” 

“Spiders? Come on, Jon. You’ve seen way worse than just spiders here—what the big deal?” Tim asks, making an effort to sound lighthearted. 

“They weren’t normal spiders, Tim,” Jon says. 

“Do you think you should make a statement about it?” Martin asks, and Jon sighs. 

“I’ll talk to Sasha about it,” 

“Talk to me about what?” Sasha walks in. “I heard something going on. Is everyone alright?” 

“I just came back from a pest control office, and I think I should make a statement about what I saw,” Jon says. 

“Do you think Jane Prentiss might be involved?” Sasha asks. 

“Maybe. Even so, people give statements for closure, and I’d like to get this out of my mind as quickly as possible,” 

“Alright, then. Let’s go to my office.” Sasha and Jon leave, and Tim and Martin exchange worried looks. Down the hallway, they hear:

“Statement 0161204. Subject is Jonathan Sims, regarding his encounter with some spiders at a local pest control office. Statement taken directly from subject. Audio recording given by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins…”

\---

“Jon’s gone mad,” Tim says. “I just visited the same pest control center where he said he saw the spiders. Not a single person there knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the incident, and even weirder, they also said that they haven’t had anyone come in to look at the public records in the past few days.”

“Maybe they’re hiding something? I don’t know, Tim. Why would Jon lie in his statement?” Martin asks. 

“Don’t ask me. I’m going to talk to Sasha about it, and maybe she’ll confront Jon.”

“Where is Jon?”

“He took the day off. Sasha said that he’s recovering from his encounter. Normally I’d say that maybe he faked something to get the day off, but I’m not so sure.”

“Okay. You go talk to Sasha, and I’m going to try to find his statement. We need to know what’s going on here,” 

“This could be a good thing. It might knock Jon off his high horse.”

“Tim!”

“Just kidding, Martin.”

Martin walks to Sasha’s office, and just as he’s about to open the door, he hears Sasha’s voice down the hall. 

“Martin! Is everything alright?” 

“Uh, Sasha, I was just—” 

“Breaking into my office? Is this about Jon’s statement?”

“How-How’d you know that?” Martin stammers, and Sasha looks taken aback. 

“I'm not sure, actually. Even so I don’t think it’s terribly professional of you to be stealing a statement, though. You can always ask me if something’s worrying you,” 

“I know. I just...I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it, but Tim and I need to know what’s happening.”

“Let me text Jon and ask him if he’s okay with me sharing what happened. Do you want to go find Tim?”

“I’m right here,” Tim appears down the hall. “Are Martin and I getting answers?” 

“Hopefully,” Martin replies. 

Sasha texts Jon, and Tim follows her into her office to wait for a reply while Martin makes tea in the breakroom. 

“He said yes,” Sasha says, checking her phone. “Alright, so——ah, thank you for the tea, Martin——Jon went to the pest control office to check their records for signs of Jane Prentiss. While he was there, someone at the front desk said that they had taken some strange samples they found in an apartment to send to the lab, and Jon could take a look if he wanted to. He did, and he was shown to a large, glass container full of spiders. Now, Jon has preexisting arachnophobia, but these spiders were different from any he’d ever seen before. They were black and swollen, and Jon said that despite the spiders being fairly small, he felt fear like never before.

He could see each of its eyes focused on him, the venom in its fangs, how its mandibles twitched with anticipation. Now, this could be in his imagination, but he described it with such genuine terror that I can’t dismiss it. Jon left shortly after that, but as he walked back to the institute, he saw spider webs everywhere. In lampposts, in trees, under benches, even on the steps leading up to the institute. It’s impossible to have this many spiderwebs in such public places in London, but according to Jon, they were there. Most concerning of all is that in the center of each web, there was one of the spiders that Jon saw at the pest control office,” Sasha took a deep breath. “Now, there’s some follow up to be done with this case. Luckily, whoever originally discovered the spiders made a statement, and that’s what I was coming back to record.”

“So you’re saying that Jon is being traumatized by make-believe spiders, and you’re here recording statements?! We need to help him!” Martin cries before looking shocked at his own outburst. 

“You know Jon. He won’t accept help if we offer it, but he might ask for it if things get out of hand. I trust him to keep himself in check. We need to find out if Jane Prentiss is behind this, because she might be able to stop it,” Tim says, and Sasha nods. Martin shakes his head. 

“How can we help?” 


	3. "You got it, Boss."

“Carlos Vittery…” Sasha sits back in her chair, thinking of where she’d heard that name before. She makes a note of it in her notebook before getting up to look for Martin. 

She finds him deep in the Archives, cataloging tapes. 

“Martin? Could you do me a favor?”

“You’re the boss. What is it?” 

“Jon never finished investigating the Jane Prentiss case. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I found some new leads, and I think it might help us understand what happened to him.”

“Of course. I’ll get back to you right away.” 

“Thank you, Martin. Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

Tim is next. Sasha catches him leaving the breakroom, and asks him to look into the whereabouts of Julia Montauk. 

“You got it, boss,” Tim replies with a smile. 

Sasha returns to her office to find the door wide open, despite it being closed when she left. She steps inside, and standing by her chair is a tall woman in a black overcoat, with red hair down to her waist. She looks up to meet Sasha’s gaze, and Sasha feels her cheeks grow warm. 

“Hello, Sasha,” she says politely.

“Who are you? Did Rosie let you in?” Sasha asks, not moving from the doorway.

“I’m Agnes, a...friend of Gertrude’s. I thought I’d pay my respects.”

“Oh,” Sasha replies. “Thank you, Agnes.”

“It’s my pleasure. I saw one of your assistants on my way in. He looked like he was in a hurry,” Agnes says, running her fingertips over the wood of the desk.

“That was probably Martin,” 

“Ah, I see. Hopefully you won’t go through assistants like Gertrude did,” Agnes smiles fondly until she sees Sasha’s startled expression, and she clears her throat.

“How did you say you knew Gertrude?” Sasha asks. 

“Maybe we weren’t friends, but we were close. Maybe more by fate than anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Agnes takes something out of her pocket and sets it on the desk. “Maybe not. Gertrude was never one for small talk, but maybe you’d like to get coffee with me sometime?”

“I’ll have to see, and maybe you can tell me what Gertrude didn’t,” Sasha replies. 

“I’d like that. It was a pleasure meeting you,”

“Likewise.” 

Sasha moves out of the doorway long enough for Agnes to leave, and then quickly returns to her desk to see what Agnes left her. It appears to be a small lighter with a web engraved into it, and on the reverse side is a phone number. Across the edge of the desk is a scorch mark, and when Sasha touches it, it’s still warm. 

\---

_ Down the hallway, Agnes is leaving the institute. She turns the corner to find herself face to face with Elias. He straightens out his tie before looking up to face Agnes, who stands several inches taller than him.  _

_ “Agnes, what a pleasure to see you. What brings you to the institute?” _

_ “Wouldn’t you already know?”  _

_ Elias laughs. “Of course, but I wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself before I warn you to not return again.” _

_ “And why is that?” _

_ “Because I can’t have you ruining another Archivist, Agnes. I’m rather fond of this one, and you had your run with Gertrude. Besides, aren’t you with Jude now? _

_ Agnes laughs. “Maybe according to her. I’m not planning anything, Elias. You know that.” _

_ “That doesn’t matter. She can’t know everything just yet, so I’ll ask you again to stay away from this Institute.” _

_ “Very well. Good day, Elias.” _

_ “As to you.” _

\---

“Maxwell Rainer is known to be the head of The People’s Church of the Divine Host, and I think Robert Montauk was involved with them. Julia said her father was working for somebody, and Maxwell was the last person to see him alive,” Tim says, reading off of meticulously taken notes. 

“I don’t know how much for follow-up we can do, but I’ll look for statements that could involve the church. Thanks, Tim,” Sasha replies, looking over Tim’s notes.

“Do you know how Jon is doing?” Tim asks. 

“I haven’t heard much from him. He replied to one of my texts offering to bring him dinner, but didn’t say anything else,” 

“I suppose he’s alive. I find it funny that after making fun of people’s statements, he got stuck on house arrest while hiding from invisible spiders.”

“Serves him right,” Sasha laughs. 

Tim goes to reply, but Martin cuts him off as he enters the room. 

“Sasha, I think I found Prentiss,” he gasps, out of breath after clearly having run to the institute. He holds up a glass jar full of small, silvery worms, and Sasha instinctively recoils. 

“Oh my god, that’s disgusting,” Tim gags, looking away. Sasha takes a step closer, examining the worms as they coil around each other and scrape at the sides of the jar. 

“Where did you get those from?” Sasha asks. 

“I was searching for Prentiss, and the Carlos Vittery case led me to his old apartment. I interviewed the owner of the building and came up with pretty much nothing, but something made me go back that night. Just for another look, you know? I saw a lot of spiderwebs...anyways, I brought a torch and got into the basement through a window. There were almost more spiderwebs than what I remembered, a bit like how Jon has described them. There weren’t any actual spiders, though. The moment I stepped into the basement, I knew I had made a huge mistake. There was this strange musty smell, and I saw a few of these small, silvery worms. I had the sense to capture these two in a jar, and then I heard rustling in the corner. I know this job, and I know that following strange sounds almost never ends well, but I just...had to, you know? I walked further into the basement, which was pretty dark even with my torch. That’s when I saw her. I’m pretty sure she—or it—was Jane Prentiss, or at least used to be. Prentiss was in the shape of a human, but her body was filled with black holes, like a wasps’ nest, and there were hundreds of worms crawling through her skin. They were falling on the floor and wriggling everywhere, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I screamed. Her head snapped towards me, and the face I saw was rotten and barely human. She moved towards me, and it took everything I had to run up the basement stairs. The door wasn’t locked and I managed to run out, and I didn’t stop running until I was on the Underground. I went home and tried to sleep a bit, until I realized that I still had the jar with worms in my pocket. I don’t know if Prentiss could track me, but I knew that I shouldn’t stay at home. I dropped my phone somewhere in the basement, or I would’ve called you, and I left my flat and spent the rest of the night walking through town. I forgot to grab money, or anything besides the jar really, so I had to walk to the Institute this morning. And now I’m here, and I’m holding part of Jane Prentiss’ worm body, and I don’t know what to do.” 

Sasha and Tim stare at Martin for a moment, and Sasha thinks back to her conversation with Agnes. 

_ Hopefully you won’t go through assistants like Gertrude did. _

“You said something about spiderwebs? Do you think Jon could be in danger?” she asks Martin. 

“Possibly. I should give him a call,” 

“That’s quite alright, Martin. You go get some rest—there’s a room set up in the Archives with a bed for when I work late,” 

“But—”

“I’m serious, Martin. I need you at your best right now, and that means getting some sleep,” 

“Very well, Sasha.” Martin sighs and leaves the office, and Sasha turns to Tim. 

“I’ve been Head Archivist here for barely six weeks. How am I supposed to handle this?” Sasha worries.   
“What would Gertrude do?” he replies, and Sasha hears Agnes’ words in her head again and again. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think she’s the best person to ask about this. I might talk to Elias—he can hire some extra security,” 

“What about Jon?”

“I should probably call him. He might be safer staying in the Archives as well.” 

“And you? How are you feeling with all of this?” Tim asks, and Sasha sighs. 

“I’ll be alright. I’m hoping Artifacts Storage prepared me for whatever’s coming.”

\-----

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for how little editing gets done here...


	4. Investigations gone Wrong

Sasha sees Agnes sitting by the window of the coffeeshop, holding a steaming cup of black coffee between her hands. Agnes has her head turned to watch the pedestrians make their way idly down the sidewalk, and the turn of her smile makes Sasha wonder if watching strangers live entirely mundane lives is the highlight of Agnes’ week. 

“Agnes,” she said, sitting down across from her. 

“Good afternoon, Sasha. How are you?”

“I’m doing alright. And you?”

“About the same here. Would you like anything to drink?”

“I’ll pass.” Sasha shifts in her seat. “What happened to Gertrude?”

“Getting straight to the point, I see.” Agnes shifted in her seat. “There’s not much that I can tell you,”

“Why?”

“Because your boss won’t like it if I do,”

“What does this have to do with Elias?”

“Everything has to do with Elias, my dear,”

“Then why’d you bring me here?” Sasha asks. 

“Because I wanted to see you again, and maybe talk about something other than your predecessor.” 

Sasha’s confusion turned to realization, and she relaxed back into her seat. “Oh,”

Agnes took a sip of her coffee. 

“So, where are you from?” Sasha asks. 

“I grew up on my family’s farm, and I was homeschooled for the most part. I spent some time in the Cowley area of Oxford, but I’ve mostly avoided cities.”

“What brought you to London?” 

Agnes shrugs. “I wanted a change of scenery. How did you end up at the Magnus Institute?” 

“I was looking for a research position right after college, and bounced from place to place for a while. Once I got to the Magnus Institute...I don’t know, it just stuck. I hated my job at first. I was working in Artifacts storage with all of these creepy relics the institute collects. I quit after a few months, and Elias transferred me to the Archives.” 

“I suppose that the statements don’t cause you much trouble,”

“Not for me, but I also don’t investigate the cases myself,”

“I see,” Agnes says. “And I’m sensing a question.”

Sasha leans forward in her chair. “When I say that I don’t investigate statements, I mean that my assistants do most of the work for me. I’ve sent them to do follow-up on some statements, and they’ve come back with strange stories. You said something about Gertude’s relationship with her assistants—what did you mean?”

Agnes sighs fondly. “You remind me of Gertrude. Driven, intelligent—maybe a bit too intense, but I think it’s charming. That said, Gertrude sometimes let her ambition get the best of her. All in the name of the greater good, of course, but it cost her in the end. Unfortunately that’s all I can say.” Agnes stood up from her chair.  
“Why? What kinds of situations? Wait, Agnes—”

“I have to leave, but I had a nice time with you. Same time next week?”

“Alright. I’ll see you next week.” 

Agnes smiled and turned to leave, and Sasha stood up sharply. 

“Agnes—”

Agnes turned back. 

“This was nice. How about I take you to dinner?”

“I would like that. You should know where to find me,” 

Sasha watches her leave before sitting back down. She sips her tea, which isn’t nearly as good as Martin’s. She looks closely at the coffee cup that Agnes left behind. 

_ Black coffee at 4pm? Maybe she works late. Where does a woman like her even work? A late night modeling agency? I can hardly tell how old she is.  _

_ She dodged most of my questions, and this so-called date was hardly ten minutes long. Was it because I brought up the Institute? Probably. I wish she had stayed longer. _

_ Elias is somehow involved in this. Gertrude was involved with Agnes. Does Elias have something to do with what happened to Gertrude? _

Sasha pulls the lighter out of her pocket. 

_ You should know where to find me.  _

\-----

“Tim, I had an idea.” Sasha passes Tim her notebook of names and references, and he sits down at the chair opposite her desk to look through it. 

“Several names, places, and objects have made repeated appearances in the statements, and I think we should have a database for them. It may help with future investigations to know who we’re dealing with.”

“Yes, but are the Archives even supposed to conduct investigations? I thought that we only catalogued closed cases.”

Sasha hesitates. “That’s true, but I still think it would be nice to have. It shouldn’t be difficult to create, either. Just a database of recurring names and what statements they’re found in.”

“You got it, boss. Should I start with what’s in the book?” Tim asks. 

“Yes, thank you,”

“Sasha?” Jon appears in the doorway. “Can I talk to you?”

“Jon! Are you alright?” Sasha asks. 

“How are the make believe spiders?” Tim jokes, and Jon pulls a jar from his pocket. He tosses it to Tim, who takes one look inside and instantly drops it. The jar falls to the floor and rolls under the desk, stopping at Sasha’s feet. She picks it up and places it on the desk before looking inside. 

“You know, this is the second jar of disgusting things that has made it to my desk this week,” she says. 

“Is it?” Jon replies, confused. 

“Martin brought me worms a few days ago. Are these the spiders you were talking about?”

“Yes. I found them in my apartment when I woke up this morning, and these are the first few I managed to catch. They’re normally pretty fast, but I discovered that my bathtub does an excellent job of trapping them.” 

Jon looks pale as he talks, and Sasha notices a slight tremor in his hands. 

“How much sleep have you been getting?” she asks. 

“Not enough. All I dream about are spiders...I can’t escape them.”

“I’ve been keeping a cot in the spare office down the hall for when I stay late. Martin’s living there until he figures out his worm problem, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind letting you take a quick nap,”

“I’m perfectly fine—”

“Jon, you are not fine. Something very strange is happening here, and I need you at your best. I can talk to Martin if you’d like, but you need to get some decent sleep. Please.” 

Jon nods, and the shadows under his eyes seem to deepen. He leaves without replying, and Sasha turns back to Tim. 

“I know the Archives aren’t supposed to open investigations, but we have to help Jon and Martin. Besides, I’m starting to question how much actual archiving Elias wants us to do.”  
“What do you mean?” Tim asks. 

“Whenever Elias checks in, he asks me about my assistants, some specific cases, but he never asks me about my actual job. He’s never asked me about displaying things, giving tours, or even loaning out relics from Artifacts storage. As far as he’s concerned, I’m just drinking coffee and reading fairy tales all day,”

“Maybe Martin is spying for Elias,” Tim jokes. “You know, keeping an eye on you,” 

Sasha laughs. “No, or Martin wouldn’t let me get away with stealing creamer packets from the break room,”  
“YOU steal from the break room?” Tim gasps. 

“Oh, don’t act so shocked. Elias buys almond milk creamers along with the normal ones, and I’m the only one who uses them. Besides, I know where all of the pens go, Tim,”

“Touché.” Tim smiles. “I’ll get started on your database,” 

“Thank you, Tim.” Sasha returns to her statement. It’s one she recorded already, but didn’t think much of. Now, she plays it back. 

“Statement 0151403. Subject is Antonio Blake, regarding his dreams about former Head Archivist, Gertrude Robinson. Statement originally given on March 14th, 2015. Audio recording given by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins…”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to my editor/girlfriend, who will be affectionately referred to as "cowboy" for anonymity, for helping me figure out how AO3 works.   
> comments and critiques are appreciated!


End file.
